Stanford wins 16th Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup

Word came late Wednesday afternoon from JIM YOUNG, sports information director, that Stanford Athletics has claimed an unprecedented 16th consecutive Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, an annual award that recognizes the top intercollegiate athletic program in the nation.

Stanford finished with 1,508.50 points, outdistancing Florida and Virginia. After claiming national championships in the sports of men’s volleyball, women’s tennis and women’s lightweight crew-varsity eight, Stanford has won at least one NCAA team title for 34 consecutive years, an ongoing record.

Twenty of Stanford’s 35 intercollegiate programs finished their respective seasons ranked in the top-10 nationally, while nine teams were ranked first in the nation at some point during the year.

Read about the award and about the Cardinal’s remarkable 2009-10 year.

Speaking of sports, the most recent edition of Sandstone & Tile, the publication of the Stanford Historical Society, includes an article called “Coach HARRY MALONEY and the Genesis of the Stanford Sports Camps.”

As anyone who works at Stanford knows, summer is a time for thousands of sports-loving kids to descend on the Farm for a wide variety of camps, many overseen by coaches and taught by Stanford athletes.

Alumnus THOMAS WYMAN, who wrote the article, believes that the forerunner of these highly successful sports camps was a once-a-week, all-boys gym program called the Saturday Morning Boys’ Class. It was run by “the grand old man of Stanford sports,” Harry Maloney, who conducted it every spring for 25 years from 1919 to 1944. Maloney Field, home to soccer and lacrosse, was named for Maloney, who coached nine sports and served as director of minor sports.

Read the article on the Stanford Historical Society website. Check out the Stanford Athletics website for a rundown of this year’s summer sports camps.